Taught by Mr Blackfat, who is a little eccentric and often asks students philosophical questions spontaneously, and mocks them if they get the wrong answer. There is a massive bookshelf running the length of one wall, and there are no desks and chairs- just beanbags/cushions on the blue carpet and boards to lean on. Good but not massively bright lighting, and sometimes music playing quietly if Mr Blackfat feels like it.

Effy entered, and upon seeing Ranz smoothed down her light blue blouse nervously. Then she cursed herself for being so superficial, and sank down cross-legged on one of the larger beanbags. Mr Blackfat addressed her suddenly.

"I have a question for you Mr. Blackfat." He paused momentarily before continuing. "What is a platonic form, and what is Plato's definition of 'Concrete Reality' hmm?" he hoped he'd take the heat off Effy for a few moments at least..

((Ack, haven't studied Plato much! Just Descartes... can you fill it in?))

Effy stared at Ranz almost admiringly; it was extremely rare for her to find herself in a class where she wasn't the only bookworm. Meanwhile, Mr Blackfat was stroking his beard in dramatic preparation for his answer.

Mr. Blackfat turned slowly "A Platonic form is the perfect idea, an object we can see or touch is an imperfect appearance of that form, or idea. For example. The idea of the circle is perfect, the platonic form: circle. But any circle we ever see will be imperfect. This imperfect 'realm' if you will is concrete reality..." Ranz smiled.. "Looks like I'm not the only one.."

Getting more enthusiastic about the discussion, Effy piped up "But if there's a form for everything, does that mean there's a perfect idea of some modern technology? Computers, phones, even things like mirrors weren't always around or even thought of, so can there really be a form for these things that were only recently conceived?"

Ranz glanced at Effy. "Everything, even recent things. We simply... created the idea of the computer, and the perfect idea was instantaniusly a form, and we began creating inperfect appearances of this idea."

"I see. Except if there's a form to everything, wouldn't there be a form of forms- a form of perfection? And then the form of perfection would also require a form, and so on in an infinite regress. Plus, your theory would require there to be a form for more unsavoury things like instruments of torture or bodily functions. It strikes me as unlikely that somewhere there is a perfect idea of thumbscrews or urine." Effy's voice was growing louder and more confident as she finally found an effective format to use all the knowledge gained from hours of reading, and now she folded her arms almost as though in challenge.

"It's not my theory it's Plato's. This is ancient greek remember, they aren't the smartest. Plato was the one that said 'there are no gods and goddesses only platonic forms, love is not the presence of Aphrodite, it is the presence of the perfect form, Love' and Plato was undoubtedly wrong from my perspective."

"I meant Plato's theory," Effy silently cursed herself for making such a simple error, "But the Ancient Greeks were smarter than we give them credit for, so don't insult their intelligence." Effy suddenly looked up to see Mr Blackfat observing their debate, looking half interested and half amused. She blushed and stopped talking.

"Excellent! Now you two can stay in this class." Receiving no reply, he continued."If you knew that, I would begin to suspect that there was no need for you to stay and have me tell you what you already know!" Beaming at them, he strolled away to seek out more victims.

Ranz dropped his head, his book seemingly infinitely more interesting then being quizzed, but for some reason Effy was even more interesting.. but he didn't know why.. He pried his eyes off her and stared at the floor, sighing he grabbed his book and opened it.

Effy turned to smile briefly at her friend, but saw that Ranz had already retreated to his book. Not annoyed, but rather reassured by this, she stared at her own book. Although she pretended to be focused on the words, she couldn't help but sneak glances at Ranz as they sat in companionable silence while Mr Black fat carried out his mini-inquisition at the other side of the classroom.

Was it Effy's imagination, or was Ranz looking at her as often as she looked at him? Self-concsciously, she shifted about on her cushion- and her book fell to the floor with a much louder noise than was really necessary. She felt herself blushing deep scarlet, which almost never happened her, and picked it up again whilst hoping that by some massive coincidence everyone was looking out the window at something much more interesting.

((Determinism is the belief that because everything including human behaviour is caused, so anything we think we choose is caused by something beyond our control- so if we have no choice, we have no free will, so everything is predetermined.))

"That's part of it," Effy agreed, "Because although we cannot control what causes our behaviour, we can obtain knowledge and awareness of these causes, and understand it better. So in a way, self-awareness and knowledge IS free will- the freedom of power over ourselves, which as Ranz says can better lead to happiness."

((I seriously hope that's right- if not, I'll know if I write it down wrongly in my exam.))